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micro greens

I just found a term the other day for the greens gardening I have been doing.

Micro-greens.

Since salads are such a staple in this house I began a few years ago building salad greens infrastructure(salad and infrastructure: two words that normally don’t go together). I have nine set up now.

They are all up off the ground so the slugs don’t ruin my dinner.

above: Black seeded simpson lettuce seedlings emerge

above: Obama’s favorite veggie, arugula. ha

above: swiss(neutral) chard

Here’s what I do. I get a clay Pot. I like the flat, eight inch deep ones. They take less soil than the deep ones and do just fine as far having enough substance to hold moisture for a decent amount of time. Then I bought soil(you can use your own compost if your fortunate enough to have some). If you buy soil, get some better quality medium since greens need well drained, oxygenated soil(miracle grow mix? pro-mix, etc?). Use some vermiculite mixed in to help with pourosity. Consistency in soil will give consistency in your crop. Once this is done you’re ready to sow seed. Because the seed of greens like lettuce is so small and large drops of water will move the seed around, use a foggit (brand) mist nozzle to water with, the first week or three. When the seedlings get older you can use a cheap spray nozzel of some sort(I just use my thumb over the end of the hose, from a distance, creating a pseudo-mist). Once the seed is up I use fish emulsion to liquid feed my greens(see instructions for applying fish emulsion on the label). Greens love fertilizer. Once you get a crop, just use a scissors to cut your salad. When they get old enough in the summer, rip out the old crop and sow a new ones. Repeat. If you get ate up by beetles or something, rip up the crop and start a new one. Its fun!

In the summer, the heat eventually effects greens. I get better results in areas where the sun is shaded a bit from the western(most intense) exposure from the sun. Shade in the afternoon makes it a bit cooler. Normally greens are grown in cool times of the year(here, all winter). If the greens get bitter from heat(and they will at some point), just start a new crop. If the weeds take over, start a new crop but before, you might scrape off the first few inches and pitch this into the compost and put a new, weed-free layer of soil to fill the pot again. Then repeat seeding!!!